Current Market Situation on Aircraft Engines and Increasing Requirements of EB-PVD Equipment

摘要

Equipment suppliers use forecast, demands and estimates to determine capacity requirements for coated parts and coating development. Fuel efficiencies and longer cycle times of all modern gas turbines, especially for the aviation industry, are the key drivers for the optimization of materials and coatings. EB-PVD coatings are designed specifically to accomplish those efficiencies. Ytrria stabilized zirconia coatings applied by EB-PVD achieved the standard for the industry over the last decade. To produce these coatings in reliable cost-efficient methods, coaters are designed for high throughput and extended campaign times of several days. The equipment supplier's challenge is to continue to provide equipment and process improvements. Some of these may require extensive requalification of equipment and processes by aviation authorities (e.g. FAA), considering safety features for personnel and machinery protection. Double layers coatings are a process improvement now driving standard equipment design. Double layer coatings can be applied sequentially depending on equipment configuration, integrating solutions that allow for switching evaporation materials during a deposition run. In order to accomplish this several systems are integrated in order to provide a sophisticated and safe beam deflection system with a high flexibility of beam pattern control.